Vancity

The Human Side of Finance

Content Marketing Strategy | Editorial Planning | SEO Content Briefs | Blog/Article Creation and Optimization

vancity-sign-logo
Vancity needed to balance high-integrity storytelling with financial education … while marketing its services, too.
Vancity represents a diverse community dedicated to noteworthy values. This beloved credit union needed to find a way to balance high-integrity storytelling with financial education while marketing its services, too. When Vancity approached us in 2023, this community brand was on top of its SEO game. It knew the audiences it wished to reach and the kinds of keywords it needed to use. But it was struggling to combine those intentions in a way that yielded exceptional, informative, and educational blog content that really spoke to people as—well, people. Vancity’s in-house marketers asked us for support in creating a series of search-engine-optimized (SEO) blog posts that discussed some of the fundamental problems people in Vancouver face regarding money and told them about the solid solutions Vancity provides.
three-images-showing-blog-topics-for-vancity-by-forge-and-spark
Google rewards content written by people who know. So we brought in the experts.

Specifically, we brought in a diverse selection of Vancity members who knew their subject matter and who also happened to be extraordinary writers and journalists.

Vancity told us that they wanted their content to feel human and real, along with delivering strong metrics. During Discovery, we dug into just what this meant: clarifying the goals for the series along with a better understanding of the target audiences—and what kind of value we needed to provide in our content–which pain points to address, and the right voice & tone to express it.

We also worked with Vancity to get clear on exactly what they wanted to promote, to ensure that the subjects we would write about achieved a ‘message-market match,’ where our content would promote Vancity’s offerings in a way that also gave the audience genuine value and help.

From this discovery work, we proposed an initial list of topics, along with a series of writers with expertise in the subject matter, whom we believed could do the series justice. We’re fortunate, as an agency, to have worked with some of the best writers and journalists in the country, so knew exactly who to suggest.

two-women-looking-at-the-laptop-and-phone
The impact: our ‘radically real’ content has grown audiences and engagement.

With a firm go-ahead on our topic list, we started work, and were proud to produce a first, then a second series of blog posts that performed well and elicited strong engagement from the Vancity community, including an essential guide to budgeting for couples;  a wonderful first-person story on managing money while supporting loved ones; and this personal story of learning about how to manage, and make tough choices, about credit. We’re now working on our third series. 

We’re now working on our third series, and are continuing to produce ‘radically real’ content that both Vancity and our team can take great pride in.

client-sucess-content-marketing-case-study-forge-and-spark

Why We Love Them

Um, it’s Vancity. This is a credit union that’s been known for values-based banking since 1946, using their assets to help members and develop sustainable communities. And they truly walk the walk when it comes to values. Did you know, for example, that they were the first financial institution in Canada to provide mortgages to women without a male co-signer, back in 1961? Thank you, Vancity. Your community loves you for it.

an-image-with-a-client-quote-for-forge-and-spark

How can we help solve your unique content challenges?

Check out more of our work here—and please feel free to reach out to discuss ways we might create strategy and/or ongoing content for your purpose-driven brand.